BRIDGEforEU implementation takes shape along France’s borders
On September 16th, the ANCT, acting as the National Coordination Point (NCP), organised a webinar for the prefectures of the border regions on the rollout of BRIDGEforEU along their respective borders. The webinar provided the prefectures with an overview of the French governance framework, the timetable for its implementation along each border, and the tools that will gradually be made available to them.
Implementation timetable in France
From October onwards, the prefectures of the border regions are invited to conduct, for each of the six borders concerned, a consultation with cross-border stakeholders in their respective territories. This will notably involve local and regional authorities, existing cross-border bodies, European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTCs), managing authorities of Interreg programmes, as well as other organisations with expertise or responsibilities relating to the resolution of cross-border obstacles.
This process will identify the stakeholders to be involved in the future CBCP and the Partnership Committee that will support its work, as well as the arrangements for organising these bodies along each border. The objective is to build on existing cooperation structures in order to avoid duplicating mechanisms that are already in place.
Once this consultation phase has been completed, the ANCT and the prefectures, with the support of the MOT, will organise a meeting along each border with the organisations consulted, with a view to formally validating the structure of the Regional Cross-Border Coordination Point.
As the pilot border, stakeholders along the French-German border will be consulted and brought together this autumn to establish the CBCP.
At the same time, the ANCT is developing a single national platform for reporting and monitoring cross-border obstacles on the “Europe en France” portal. The MOT is contributing to the development of the tools needed for the submission and analysis of obstacle cases.
The obstacle reporting form is expected to go online from November 2026, allowing the first cases to be submitted.
The French-Belgian and French-Luxembourgish borders will also be invited to establish their CBCPs this autumn, followed by the French-Spanish, French-Italian and French-Swiss borders in early 2027. The objective is for all CBCPs and Partnership Committees to be operational by the first half of 2027.
KEY DOCUMENTS/WEBSITES
In neighbouring countries and across Europe
At the European level, Member States are also continuing to establish their national or regional mechanisms.
Luxembourg is among the countries that have made the most progress: the Ministry for Spatial Planning, designated as the National Coordination Point, already has a platform for reporting cross-border obstacles.
Belgium, for its part, has chosen to designate relevant authorities and plans to rely on the INTERREG FWVL LIM-EX project for the reporting and resolution of cross-border obstacles along the French-Belgian border.
In addition, the European Commission has launched a portal listing the coordination points and relevant authorities responsible for addressing cross-border obstacles in different Member States: https://cross-border-obstacles-register.ec.europa.eu/?lng=en
In the longer term, this European portal will also make it possible to monitor and map the obstacles reported under the regulation, and to share the various solutions implemented across Europe.
